What We Read Today 27 August 2014

Econintersect: Every day our editors collect the most interesting things they find from around the internet and present a summary “reading list” which will include very brief summaries (and sometimes longer ones) of why each item has gotten our attention. Suggestions from readers for “reading list” items are gratefully reviewed, although sometimes space limits the number included.

• Scathing report slams veterans’ care but says no definite link to deaths (Ashley Fantz, Drew Griffin, Nelli Black and Scott Bronstein, CNN) Hat tip to Alun J. Hill. There were 23 cases studied by the VA Inspector General where “clinically significant delays” in care occurred. In those cases there were six deaths, but investigators couldn’t conclusively link their deaths to the delays.

• Review of Alleged Patient Deaths, Patient Wait Times, and Scheduling Practices at the Phoenix VA Health Care System (Richard J. Griffin, Acting Inspector General Veteran Affairs) Click on page image below for complete Inspector General’s report.

Click to read full report.

• NC Pension Deal: How Wall Street Ends Up Getting Cash Meant for Main Street (David Sirota, International Business Times) A corrupt system, populated with corrupt people: Public pension plans use an extractive crony system to take hundreds of millions a year out of public pension funds. The system includes even national figures such as Erskine Bowles, co-chair of the famous (infamous?) Simpson-Bowles Fiscal Commission which presumed to “save” the U.S. from itself. But who can save America from parasites like Bowles? See Retirement Investigation (State Employees Association of North Carolina). See also next article.

• Gov. Christie Shifted Pension Cash to Wall Street, Costing New Jersey Taxpayers $3.8 Billion (David Sirota, International Business Times) This grand plan has tripled fees and produced “below median” returns. New Jersey is “now one of America’s largest investors in hedge funds“. Firms collecting these inflated fees have employees who “have financially supported Republican groups backing Christie’s reelection campaign“.

• Recent articles about Ferguson:

Can Ferguson change the ‘ritual’ of black deaths? (Jesse Washington, Associated Press, MSN News)

Mike Brown ‘No Angel’ Profile In New York Times Outrages Readers, Drives Subscription Cancellations (Ellen Killoran, International Business Times)

• Articles about wars elsewhere in the world:

Gaza Truce Open-Ended, but Puts off Tough Issues (Karin Laub and Mohammed Daraghmeh, ABC News)

Gaza high-rises hit by Israeli strikes (Al Jazeera)

What’s Next in Iraq and Syria? (John Cassidy, The New Yorker)

ISIS Tightens Its Grip With Seizure of Air Base in Syria (Ben Hubbard, The New York Times)

Is Obama heading toward airstrikes in Syria? (Tom Cohen, CNN)

Poll Results: Iraq (Peter Moore, YouGov)

‘Men in green’ raise suspicions of east Ukrainian villagers (Maria Tsvetkova, Reuters)

Evidence of direct Moscow military involvement in Ukraine grows (Roman Olearchyk, Courtney Weaver and Neil Buckley, Financial Times)

Poroshenko to seek ceasefire after “very tough” talks with Putin (Alexei Anishchuk and Matalia Zinets, Reuters) If a picture is worth a thousand words, we’d like to see what the word might be for this one:

There are 16 articles discussed today ‘behind the wall’.

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